Pin-driving and pulling machine

ABSTRACT

A pin-pushing machine for pushing a pin or stake into the ground comprising a frame with supporting wheels, a stake-engaging member, means for vertically pushing the stake-engaging member downwardly for pushing a stake into the ground.

United States Patent John F. Nixon Omaha, Nebr.

Oct. 25, 1968 Feb. 16, 1971 Form Master Corporation Omaha, Nebr.

Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee A PIN-DRIVING AND PULLING MACHINE 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

11.8. C1. 173/22, 104/17, l04/244.1, 173/46 Int. Cl. B25c 15/00 173/22, 23,

Field ol'Scarch Primary Examiner-Ernest R. Purser Attorney-Hiram A. Sturges ABSTRACT: A pin-pushing machine for pushing a pin or stake into the ground comprising a frame with supporting wheels, a stake-engaging member, means for vertically pushing the stake-engaging member downwardly for pushing a stake into the ground.

PATENTED FEB] 6197! SHEET 1 BF 6 JOHN F. NIXON PATENIEUFEMIBY! 3.563319 sum 2 BF 6 FIG-2 INVENTOR. JOHN F NIXON PATENTEUFEBISIQH 3563319 SHEETBUFG FIG- 3 INVENTOR. JOHN F NIXON PATENTEDFEB'ISIBH I I 3,563,319

' "simmers FIG-4 INVENTOR.

JOHN F NIXON BY W4 3% PATENTED FEB 1 6 l9?! SHEET 5 OF 6 FIG 5 FIG 6 INVENTOR.

JOHN F. NIXON PATENTEDFEBISIQZI y 3,563,319

snmsor s DIVIDER I060 IIIO .sTEERlNG DIRECTIONAL AND SPEEB LEVELING I ma so 6002 I t I204 HYD r INVENTOR. HAMMER JOHN F NIXON this invention.

1 PIN-DRIVING AND PULLING MACHINE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is in the field of wheel-mounted devices for pushing stakes or pins into the ground. Its particular field is to drive stakes or pins through forms which lie along the side of a road bed on which a road is beingbuilt, the pins holding the forms in place. Such pins have heretofore been driven into the ground manually.

DESCRIPTION or THE PRIOR ART The manual'driving of pins has beenvery expensive. The industry has long needed power-driven means for driving into the ground these form-holding pins.

SUMMARY or THE INYENTION A pin-driving machine particularly adapted for use in driving concrete form-holding pins through the forms into the ground, and also adapted for additional use as a small crane to quickly and handily pull such pins out .of the ground.

The machine has a frame supported on wheels, the wheels being mounted on the frame by means allowing the effective planar surfacedefined by the lowermost parts of three wheels to be adjusted so as to be disposed at various angles with respect to the preferred vertical direction of motion of'a pin-.

driving member. The adjustability of the wheels, therefore, gives the machine an adaptability to maintain the motion of its pin-driving member vertical even at times when the machine itself is resting on a very uneven ground surface.

Another object is to providea machine as described having on it an operator's riding position fromwhich the operator can control (a) the pin-drivingmechani'sm and (b) the position of the plane of the undersides of the eels with respect to the frame for maintaining the pin-driving member operating up and down along a vertical line during continuous changes in the rarely level terrain. Q

The machine is automatically steered by a mechanism comprising form engaging means for engaging the outer and inner sides of a conventional elongated concrete form while the machine moves along the form to new pin-driving or pulling,

positions. The form engaging means is connected to a valve mechanism controlling hydraulic means which latter is controllably connected to wheel turning or steering means for the automatic turning of a wheel tothe right or left as the concrete form engaging means inclines to the right or left with respect to the position of a portion of the concrete form just passed during travel of the machine. 1

The machine further has a pin-driving system connected to it, preferably hydraulically operated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION'OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a frontal elevation of the pin'driving machine of FIG. 2 is a right-hand view of the machine as seen in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the machine.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an automatic steering mechanism of a machine shown in engagement with the concrete form which later is shownin dotted lines, a part of the frame of the machine also being shown in dotted line.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view in detail of a wheel mounting and driving assembly.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6. FIG. 8 is a diagram of the hydraulic system of the machine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The pin-driving machine of this invention is generally indicated at 10 in FIG. I has a generally horizontally disposed frame 12 supported on three wheels which are: forward righthand wheel 20, rearward right-hand wheel 30, and vertically moveable left-hand wheel 40.

As best seen in FIG. 1 the left-hand wheel 40 is mounted on a pivoting beam 44 which extends transversely of the machine inwardly to member 46 which has a rotatable mounting on the frame 12.

The frame should be kept level for maintaining a later described pin-driving member 600 reciprocating along a vertical line. If straight pin-driving could not be done because of uneven ground then slanting pins 610 would pull a concrete form 190 to one side causing a surfacefinishing machine, not shown and having flanged wheels using the tops 'of the forms as a rail, to fail to work because of a binding of its wheel flanges against the crooked concrete. form.

Referring to FIG. 4 a shaft 48'is connected at its ends in any suitable manner to the frame I2. The member 46 is a pipe rotatable about the shaft 48 and the'pivoting beam 44 is prohaving its upper end attached pivotally at 66 to an upstanding portion 70 of the frame 12 as best seen in FIG. 1.

The outline of the forward. right-hand wheel 20 is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7 and is adapted to rotate on an spindle which latter has a horizontal portion 82 at its lower end and an upturned portion 84 at its upper end, the upturned portion 84 extending vertically through a bearing 88 in which it is free to rotate. The bearing 88 is attached to the frame 12 so that wheel 20 is free to turn or swing about the vertical axis 90 extending through the portion 84.

A large gear 92 is suitably attached to the wheel 20 so that when the gear 92 is driven the wheel 20 will be driven. The gear 92 is driven by a chain 94 which extends around the driving gear 98 mounted on the shaft 99 of a hydraulic motor I00 which latter is attached to the underside of an arm 120.

The arm 120 is attached to the vertical portion 84 of the spindle 80 so that the motor is at all times held in a fixed position with respect to the spindle 80 even though the motor 100 and wheel 20 rotate together about the axis 90.

In FIG. 5 a bar 122 is fixed to the arm and extends rearwardly therefrom and a link 124 is pivotally connected to the arm 122 and also to an arm 126 which is attached to a collar 140, which latter is attached by a setscrew 142 or to other suitable means to a lower shaft which extends rotatably upwardly through a portion 146 'of the frame 12. A servohydraulic valve later described is shown at and is mounted on and attached to the upperside of a frame member 146 of frame 12. The valve I70 has a vertical upper shaft I76 extending upwardly there from and to which a control arm is attached so that the control arm 180 by its swinging in a horizontal plane, about the vertical axis of shaft 176, can cause the shaft 176 to rotate.

In FIG. 5 a portion of a concrete form is indicated in dotted lines at 190. A pair of form engaging'rnembers I94 and 196 are attached to the outer and innersides of the form 190, and are spaced apart for engaging the outer and innersides of form 190, the members 194 and 196 forming a part of a form engaging assembly 200 having a connecting portion of a downwardly opening U-shape, as seen at 210, which connects the portions 194 and 196 holding them in horizontally spaced relationship with respect to each other.

The form engaging members 194 and! 196 have forward and rearward ends each which latter are turned away from the opposite member 194 and 196 respectively for tending to guide the members 194 and 196 along the form 190.

A pair of support bars 250 and 260 are disposed in lapping relationship and against each other and inclined with respect to the vertical down from an outer end of the arm 180 to which latter the upper bar 260 is hinged for rotation only about a vertical axis through a hinge pin 270.

The lower end of the lower bar 250 is fixed to the U-shaped member 210. The support bars'250 and 260 can be connected together by a pivot bolt 280 which extends transversely therethrough from the top to the bottom side. The pivot bolt 280 can be placed through any one of a plurality of openings 286 so as to give adjustable positioning the form following assembly 200 for fitting forms of varying heights.

A shock absorbing assembly 290 is provided but not described in detail. It serves to hold the upper end of the lower bar 250 in alignment with the bar 260 except at times when there is an excess of pressure which might otherwise break or bend the bars 250 and 260, in which case the assembly 290 tends to yield at its spring portion 292 for absorbing the shock.

The assembly 292 and bolt 280 therefore tend together to form a means for holding the bars 250 and 260 in alignment.

Referring to FIG. 4 further means for the steering the wheels 20 and 30 are seen to be forward and rearward wheel steering cylinders 300 and 302, one end of each of which being attached to the frame 12 and the other end of each being attached to a member 306 which can also be seen in FIG. extending downwardly from the arms 122.

So when the cylinders 300 and 302 are operated, arms 120 are caused to pivot about the axis 90 of each wheel respectively causing the wheels to swing for effectively turning the machine for steering the machine.

The rearward right-hand wheel 30 and the forward righthand wheel '20 have identical duplicate mechanism for this control and so for convenience of illustration the same numbers will be given to the equivalent parts for the wheel 30 as for the control parts of the wheel 20. One difference should be noted however and that isthatthe form following assembly 200 for the rear wheel 30 extends out to the rearward of the machine instead of to the forward side thereof and the arm 120 on the rear wheel 130 extends forwardly of the spindle 80 of rear wheel 30 and also inwardlyof the machine which latter is also the case with the arm 120 of the forward wheel 120.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a mast assembly is there shown at 400 comprising forward and rearward mast portions 402 and 404 and a brace portion 406, all joined at the top to a member 410. Around the mast 400 is a first ring 420 having a horizontal surface and surrounding a second ring 422 having a vertical cylindrical surface arranged about a vertical axis so as to receive thereagainst a roller 430, the underside of which latter rides on the ring 420. The roller 430 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 432 which is suitably attached to a boom 440.

The inner end of the boom is.rotatably mounted on the top of the mast by suitable mounting means 504 for rotation about a vertical axis. At the outermost end of the boom is a pulley 448 for receiving thereacross the cable 500 which extends at its inner end across a pulley 510 at the end of the boom; the cable then extending down to an attachment to a hook 512 as will be later described. From he the pulley 448 the outer end of the cable 500 extends downward to a pin gripping assembly 520 of any suitable type for pulling pins out of the ground.

Referring to FIG. I. a vertically disposed control cylinder 700 is shown between the forward and rearward mast portions 402 and 404 as being attached near the upper end of the mast by suitable pivot mounting means indicated at 710.

The control cylinder 700 extends downwardly and has at its lower end a rod 740 suitably attached to the upper end of a later described hydraulic reciprocating hammer generally indicated at 800 and which lies generally vertical having on its underside a rod 802 provided at its lower end with a pin-driving member 600 having a normally horizontally disposed pindriving under-surface 840 for engaging and hammering or pressing against the upperside of the pins one of which, for example, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. I at 610.

It is on the rod 740 of the control cylinder 700 that the hook 512 is attached so that the control cylinder 700 can be used to operate the cable 500 for pulling pins.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the control cylinder valve is generally indicated at 900 and has an operating lever 902. The valve 900 is mounted on the mast 400 in any suitable manner. Below the valve 900 and on the forward side of the machine is a wheel leveling control valve 920.

On rearward side of the machine is a hydraulic hammer pressure control valve 940, on the underside of which latter one can see at 950 in FIG. 1 a knob which can be adjusted to control the set pressure exerted on a pin 610 above which set pressure the hydraulic fluid is transferred to the hammer 800 for causing the hammer 800 to reciprocate rapidly hammering the pin 610 into the ground.

It is to be understood that when the knob 950 is set for a certain set pressure, but the ground is found to be soft enough that the stake can be pushed into the ground with pressures beneath that said set pressure, then the hydraulic hammer 800 will not operate, as hydraulic fluid will not pass to it as latter described, but the pin will be driven into the ground by a pushing action only as is accomplished by the operation of the control cylinder 700 itself by its effect of pushing the hydraulic hammer 800 downward for pushing the pin 610.

In FIG. 8, a hydraulic flow diagram is there generally shown at 1000. In FIG. 8, the servo valves 170 and 170' controlling the forward and rearward wheels 20 and are shown as connected to the arms 180 and 185. Each valve 170 and 170 has its first input shaft l76 and 176 respectively and each have a second input shaft 150 and 150 respectively, which are also seen in FIG. 5. i

The valve 170 has a hydraulic line 1020 leading to the wheel 7 control cylinder 300 earlier described, and the other end of the cylinder 300 is connected by a'line 1026 back to the second hydraulic port 1028 of the valve I70. Hydraulic power enters the valve 170'through a-line 1030 from valve .I70' and hydraulic fluid exits from the valve 170 through a line 1032.

The valve 170 and the valve I70'Iare each of the type described in US. Pat. No. 2,939,429 which is titled: Rotary Valve for Power Steering Mechanism, issued Oct. 2 1, I957. to Lynn L. Charlson.

As we look at FIG. 5, the automatic operation of the wheel steering is as follows: reversible flow through the line I020 and through the line 1026 for correctly causing the wheel cylinder 300 to operate for ideal steering is controlled through valve 170 by the relative rotational position of the two shafts I50 and 176, which latter are controlled by the position of the form following assembly 200, as guided by the position of the form 190, and by the position of the wheel 20 at a same instance, the wheel 20 position controlling the position of the arm 120, the linkage 124, the arm 126 and the shaft 150.

Once the form following assembly 200 is set at a distance from the shaft 176 for proper operation, the proportional control of the shafts and I76 will then be ideal for controlling the position of the wheel 20.

This is far superior to having a direct mechanical connection between a form following assembly 200 and the arm I20 of a wheel because of the much greater power involved in doing this hydraulically.

I have found the valves of the type described to be extremely effective in the combination for accomplishing these results.

Hydraulic fluid for the machine comes from a reservoir tank 1050 through pump 1052 through line 1054 to a flow divider 1060 from which it passes outwardly into line 1066 which leads to the valve 170, a line 1030 leading from valve I70 to valve 170 and a line I032 leading from valve 170 to a return line 1080 which leads back to a filter 1084 and from there back to the reservoir tank 1050.

A pressure relief valve 1090 is provided in a pressure relief line 1100 which leads from the line 1054 connecting between the pump 1052 and flow divider '1060. The line I I00 connects to the return line 1080 for pressure relief of fluid backed up into the reservoir 1050.

The flow divider 1060 has an hydraulic outlet line IIIO which leads to the wheel leveling control valve 920 which 1210 is connected by a line 1214 to a travel direction control 5 valve 1220, the other side of the constant speed motor 1200 being connected by a line 1224 to another port of the valve 1220.

A line 1234 connects another port of the travel speed control valve 1210 to the line 1224. A line 1240 connects still another port of the travel speed control valve 1210 with the above mentioned motor 100' which is a constant speed motor driving the rear wheel 30. The constant speed motor 100' is connected by a line 1244 to the line 1214.

In operation the driving shall be forward or reverse in ac- I cordance with the setting of the direction control valve 1220 as set by the operator. The speed of the driving of the wheels and through the motor 100 and 100' is controlled by a travel speed control valve 1210 as regulated by the operator 5 through the use of a foot pedal 1270 seen in FIG. I. 2

ln FIGS. 2 and 3 the operators seat 3000 will be seen to be disposed inwardly of the left side forward and rearward wheels 20 and 30 with the engine 3010 of the machine mounted on the frame 12 between the seat 3000 and the right wheel 40.; The seat 3000 is approximately midway between forward and rearward sides of the machine and is spaced from the mast 400 to provideroom for the operators, feet.

The engine 3010 can be?! gasoline/or other type of engine having a fuel tank 302 0, muffler 3022, hydraulic fluid reservoirtank 1050. V

To the forward and rearwardsides pf the operators seat 3000 are forward and rearwardpin baskets 3050 and 3052 respectively, each basket being elongated for receiving the elongated pin 610 therein and each basket resting on one of two basket support assemblies 3060 and 3062 respectively mounted on the frame. 12. f"

Each basket has a lifting yoke 3070 and 3072, attached to the upper side thereof so that they can be lifted into and out of position on their carrying platform 3060 and 3062 by the lift 4 ing cable 500 for hydraulic shifting of a heavy basketful'of pins 610. i

The baskets 3050 and 3052 are elongated along lines extending inclinedly as seen in FIG. 3 in top hand view with respect to both the direction of travel of the machine and with 4 5 respect to a line at a right angle to the direction of travel, with which lateral line the pin basket-forms an angle of approximately 30.

As best seen in FIG. 2 the hydraulic hammer 800 is guided by guide rods 4002 and 4004 from the forward and rearward side thereof, these guide rods being fixed at their lower ends to the frame 12 and attached at their upper ends to plate 4010 which is connected to the mast 400. A pair of cars 5030 and 5032 extend outwardly from and are attached to the housing of thehydraulic hammer 800 on the forward and rearward sides thereof, the ears slidably receiving therethrough the respectively forward andrearward guide rods 4002 and 4004 for permitting the housing of the hydraulic hammer 800 to move only in upward and downward directions which are vertical when the frame is level.

Referring to H0. 8, the hydraulic hammer is shown at 800 and the control cylinder which raises and lowers it is shown at 700. The valve controlling the flow of hydraulic fluid to the control cylinder 700 is shown at 900 in FIG. 8 and a line 6000 leads from The to a lower end of the control cylinder 700. The 65.

upper end of the cylinder 700 is connected by a line 6002 to a port of a pressure reducing valve 6010 and the flow from the pressure reducing valve back to the reservoir tank 1050 is first through a line 6012, then through a line 6020, which latter connects to the line 1080. A line 6040 leads from the valve 70 900 to the pressure reducing valve 6010 and flow from the valve 6010 at times occurs through a line 6050 to the hydraulic hammer 800 from which latter a lline 6052 leads tothe line 6020 for a return to the reservoir.

It is to be understood that the pressure reducing valve 6010 is of a kind that is pilot-operated and that it limits flow to the lifting orcontrol cylinder 700 to a set pressure as set on the knob 950, which can be seen in FIG. 1. The valve 6010 and the earlier mentioped valve 940 are the same valve, whereby the operation thereofis described on an earlier page.

The hydraulic hammer 800 has vallving of the type shown in us. Pat. No. 3,322,038.

We claim:

1. A pin-driving machine for driving pins through concrete forms comprising a frame, a downwardly facing pin-driving member, reciprocation causing means mounted on said frame for causing upward and downward lineal movements of said pin-driving member, wheel means under said frame, said wheel means comprising at least three wheels on said frame. and wheel mounting means permitting a sufficient vertical ad- 0 justinent of said wheel means that the lowermost surfaces of said wheels are sufficiently vertically adjustable to allow lineal 25 saidframe and operatively correlated with said wheel mounting means, said wheel mounting means permitting the steering of said wheel means to direct said machine in desired directions in a horizontal plane, steering means mounted in said frame and operatively correlated with said wheel means for steering said wheel means for'driving said wheel means to horizontally propel said machine, and in which a vertically elongated hydraulic control cylinder assembly is provided, mast means on said frame, the upper end of said hydraulic cylinder assembly being supported on said mast means, a hydraulic hammer having a vertically reciprocating piston rod projecting from the lower end therefrom, means mounting said pirf-driving member on the lower end of the piston rod of said hydraulic hammer, said hydraulic hammer being disposed beneath said hydraulic cylinder, the lower end of said hydraulic cylinder assembly being attached to the housing of said hydraulic hammer whereby said hydraulic cylinder assembly can be used to raise and lower said hydraulic hammer. 2. The combination of claim. l in which a hydraulic system including a pump and a hydraulic reducing valve is provided, said pump being operatively correlated with said hydraulic control cylinder todeliver oil to said hydraulic control cylinder and through said pressure reducing valve, said hydraulic system being such that when said pin-driving member is encountering a resistance: because of the hardness of the ground into which a pin is being driven sufficient that the pressure in said hydraulic system is above a certain set pressure, then-hydraulic fluid will :flow into said hydraulic hammer for operating said hydraulic hammer to drive said pin into the ground, but such that when the pressure against said pin-driving member is below the said set pressure then the hydraulic hammer will not operate but the pin will be pushed into the ground by the expansion of the control cylinder alone.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which a boom is provided at the upper end of said mast means and has an inner end pivotally connected to said mast means for pivoting about a vertical axis, a pulley on the outer end of said boom, a cable extending across said pulley, means for gripping a pin attached to the lower end of said cable, asecond pulley near the top of said mast, the other end of said cable extending across said second pulley, means connecting the other end of said cable to the lower end of said hydraulic control cylinder to use the latter for stake pulling.

4. The combination of claim 1 in further combination with an operators seat mounted on said frame, and pin-receiving basket means disposed alongside the operator's seat. 

1. A pin-driving machine for driving pins through concrete forms comprising a frame, a downwardly facing pin-driving member, reciprocation causing means mounted on said frame for causing upward and downward lineal movements of said pin-driving member, wheel means under said frame, said wheel means comprising at least three wheels on said frame, and wheel mounting means permitting a sufficient vertical adjustment of said wheel means that the lowermost surfaces of said wheels are sufficiently vertically adjustable to allow lineal motion of said pin-driving member to be substantially vertical at times when the machine itself is resting on an uneven ground surface, wheel elevation control means mounted on said frame and operatively correlated with said wheel mounting means, said wheel mounting means permitting the steering of said wheel means to direct said machine in desired directions in a horizontal plane, steering means mounted in said frame and operatively correlated with said wheel means for steering said wheel means for driving said wheel means to horizontally propel said machine, and in which a vertically elongated hydraulic control cylinder assembly is provided, mast means on said frame, the upper end of said hydraulic cylinder assembly being supported on said mast means, a hydraulic hammer having a vertically reciprocating piston rod projecting from the lower end therefrom, means mounting said pindriving member on the lower end of the piston rod of said hydraulic hammer, said hydraulic hammer being disposed beneath said hydraulic cylinder, the lower end of said hydraulic cylinder assembly being attached to the housing of said hydraulic hammer whereby said hydraulic cylinder assembly can be used to raise and lower said hydraulic hammer.
 2. The combination of claim 1 in which a hydraulic system including a pump and a hydraulic reducing valve is provided, said pump being operatively correlated with said hydraulic control cylinder to deliver oil to said hydraulic control cylinder and through said pressure reducing valve, said hydraulic system being such that when said pin-driving member is encountering a resistance because of the hardness of the ground into which a pin is being driven sufficient that the pressure in said hydraulic system is above a certain set pressure, then hydraulic fluid will flow into said hydraulic hammer for operating said hydraulic hammer to drive said pin into the ground, but such that when the pressure against said pin-driving member is below the said set pressure then the hydraulic hammer will not operate but the pin will be pushed into the ground by the expansion of the control cylinder alone.
 3. The combination of claim 1 in which a boom is provided at the upper end of said mast means and has an inner end pivotally connected to said mast means for pivoting about a vertical axis, a pulley on the outer end of said boom, a cable extending across said pulley, means for gripping a pin attached to the lower end of said cable, a second pulley near the top of said mast, the other end of said cable extending across said second pulley, means connecting the other end of said cable to the lower end of said hydraulic control cylinder to use the latter for stake pulling.
 4. The combination of claim 1 in further combination with an operator''s seat mounted on said frame, and pin-receiving basket means disposed alongside the operator''s seat. 